The Man Who Cycled the World

It wasn’t long after we decided to cycle the length of Africa that I was in Waterstone’s looking through some books and noticed a front cover showing a man on a bike. I smugly picked it up, imagining some relatively easy challenge and promptly had my bubble burst, by reading about Mark Beaumont, who at 24 set off to cycle 18,000 miles around the world in 195 days. Suddenly, our heroic and Herculean 7,500 mile challenge seemed rather trivial (although I will maintain our road conditions will be much worse…).

Last night, Lizzie and I were lucky enough to go along to a talk he was giving in London and he said some things that made me feel a whole lot better about the ride:

·         The hard bit is before you set off – once you are on your bike, the challenge is simple. You just get on it, peddle the right number of hours each day, and you will get there. There are not lots of complicated decisions to make. This resonated with me, because at the moment there seem like a thousand and one decisions to make and I look forward to the impending simplicity once we arrive in Cairo! [Note: this is not the same as it being easy!]

·         Don’t focus on the challenge or the destination as this will be mentally exhausting – enjoy the journey. I found this out cycling from John O’Groats to Land’s End and it is something I want to ensure I do from Cairo to Cape Town. I don’t want to think about Cape Town until the day before I arrive there. When I wake up each day, I want to immerse myself in that day’s challenge and discovery.

·         It is natural not to feel elated or celebrate at the finish  line – again, a learning from John O’Groats to Land’s End. When we arrived, we were exhausted and relieved we had been able to conquer the challenge. Feelings of elation and celebration do not kick in until the days, weeks, months and years that follow. So when I get to Cape Town, have a sip of champagne, and promptly fall asleep, this will be acceptable behaviour in front of my parents who will have flown all the way to Cape Town to see us finish (just setting expectations…)

·         And the one that worried me: Mark said “It is natural when you finish these challenges to think about the next, bigger and better challenge.” I dread to think what that might look like as this will take SOME beating…although I don’t intend to make any rash Steve Redgrave-type comments when I finish.